Frances Atkins
"The number of connections to business, and investors I’ve made through my AGSM MBA is extraordinary. Such access just doesn't exist anywhere else."
Frances Atkins
Co-Founder, Director
givvable
AGSM MBA (Executive) 2020
Giving buying power a higher power
Frances Atkins’ start-up, givvable, is a technology platform focussed on sustainability.Â
Frances co-founded givvable with her sister Naomi Vowels to make it easier for corporations to justify buying sustainable, responsibly made products by tracking and revealing the positive impact of their actions.Â
The givvable platform works by letting any organisation validate the sustainability credentials, attributes and initiatives of suppliers and trading partners - and see what third party validated actions, initiatives and commitments they’re making.Â
In turn, suppliers can register on the platform for free. givvable automatically recognises any third-party credentials they have, or they can self-register. These businesses gain access to tools and learning that boost their visibility to business customers who want to work with suppliers aligned to their own sustainability goals.
Using givvable thus allows organisations to validate their own stated sustainability credentials to their customers, investors and community.
"There’s a big difference between hoping and knowing your purchasing decisions are doing good."
Purchases can be anything from services to building materials, vehicles and stationery to the ingredients on a restaurant menu or their takeaway containers.
"Using data to prove their actions work is very motivating for any business or organisation."
Scaling positive impact with an AGSM MBA
givvable is a vast project by any measure. Frances attributes much of her ability to see and manage givvable’s big picture to the skills and confidence gained in her AGSM MBA (Executive) program.
The synergy of ensuring corporate money is being spent in a way that contributes to solving diverse challenges such as global warming and pollution might seem obvious.
For example, buying a recycled packaging product that costs the same as one made of unrecycled material. Yet, Frances soon realised achieving this goal would be a complex process involving countless stakeholders.
Frances was drawn to the AGSM MBA as a means to assemble all the skills she’d need within a holistic degree – reconciling strategy, legal, finance, accounting, marketing, business and product development.
"I see myself as 'Chief Generalist' - I can do just enough of most things to build a business from the ground up with limited resources."